The Broken Whistle
The Broken Whistle is episode 10 of Season 1 (previously 15). Plot: One morning, Thomas, Percy and Rosie are shunting in the yards, and the trucks are acting up. Percy is the engine struggling the most, and finds his wheels failing to grip the rails as he shunts trucks over the coal hopper. When he reaches the hopper, the trucks decide to be a nuisance, and drag Percy forwards. The Yard Manager assumes that Percy is asking for his bunker to be filled with coal, and sends coal towards him, just as he moves aside. The chunks of coal smash onto his boiler, and one large chunk hits his whistle, and it gets knocked slightly out of place. Worried that he might have an accident whilst pulling the mail train that night, he asks both Thomas and Rosie to fill in for him, but both decline. Before departing with his train, Percy speaks to Thomas at Tidmouth sheds. Thomas reassures him that not many engines will be travelling that night, and that the chances of an accident will be low. Soon, Percy is coupled to his mail coaches, and is waiting as they are loaded. He has a few more minutes of panic, before the Guard blows his whistle, and he is forced to set off. Not long after departing, he encounters a junction. Due to him not being able to whistle, he has no way to alert the signalman that he is there, and decides to puff onto the junction quickly, to get things over with. But as he does so, Henry comes into sight, and is forced to screech to a halt. Henry gets cross that Percy nearly caused an accident, and tells him off. Later, the same situation happens again. Hiro is forced to stop at a junction when Percy puffs onto it, silently. Percy once again explains that his whistle is broken, and Hiro informs him that he should've at least called out to signal to Hiro that he was there. But Percy takes this for granted, and is sick of everyone telling him the same thing about his whistle. Next, Percy encounters another junction, and puffs onto it in silence, once again, but thinks that everything will be okay, like all of the other times. But it isn't. Spencer rockets into sight, and smashes into Percy. Spencer is rather cross, and begins to state how silly Percy is for not using his whistle. Sir Topham Hatt then drives over to the accident, wondering what has happened. He had been informed by Hiro that Percy's whistle is out of order, and is quite cross that one of his engines has been disobedient. Not long after, Harvey arrives to clear the mess, and takes away Percy's train whilst he is sent to the works. Characters: Thomas Henry Percy Harvey Spencer Rosie Hiro Sir Topham Hatt The Stationmaster Gordon (cameo) Douglas (cameo) Stepney (cameo) Emily (cameo) Billy (cameo) Stanley (cameo) Charlie (cameo) Sidney (cameo) Gator (cameo) Lorry 1 (cameo) Byron (cameo) Kevin (cameo) Toad (cameo) Hector (cameo) Annie (mentioned) Clarabel (mentioned)